


Once Upon a Dragon

by CuriosityRedux



Series: Dragon Drabbles AU's [3]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Cinderella AU, F/M, Hiccstrid - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 21:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16751890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriosityRedux/pseuds/CuriosityRedux
Summary: Hiccup makes sure that Astrid gets her happily ever after.





	Once Upon a Dragon

**Once Upon a Dragon**

**-**

The door thumped three times, and Astrid rushed to turn the lock and peek outside. Hiccup quickly slipped into the little storage closet, and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief at the sight of him.

“I thought you’d already come,” she whispered, fingers twisting anxiously in the near-dark. “I was so late— I thought I’d missed you.”

“I had some things I had to, uh— dodge.” He sounded out of breath, but he was grinning as he lifted his satchel over his shoulder. Then by the light of the candle she’d set atop a crate of winter furs, she saw his expression drop. “Why aren’t you dressed?”

Folding her arms uncomfortably over her chest, she cut her gaze to the gown he’d made her, glittering in the dimness. “It buttons in the back,” she murmured, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. “I can’t get it on by myself.”

“You need help?” His voice sounded suddenly breathy, his hands frozen on his satchel. When she nodded, he slowly set the bag down at his side. “Okay. No problem.”

Astrid licked her lips, uncrossing her arms and slowly untying the laces at the front of her uniform with shaking fingers. She was so nervous. Nervous about undressing in front of him. Nervous about appearing before the court. Nervous about the King’s decision. Her heart fluttered like a frightened bird in her chest. When she glanced up shyly, Hiccup had his eyes respectfully averted, but his hands flexed and clenched at his sides, belying his nonchalance.

Pulling her arms out of the restricting woolen sleeves, she wriggled out of her servant’s uniform. When it slipped past her hips and crumpled to the floor at her feet, it felt like the soft noise thundered between them. Cold air surged beneath her thin chemise, making gooseflesh rise along her skin. Shivering, she chewed at her lower lip and avoided looking at Hiccup.

“I stole this from Ruffnut,” she said, clearing her throat and digging beneath her bag for the corset she’d filched from her competitor’s things. “Help me get it on.”

“Uh, I…” He raked his fingers through his hair, shaking his head. “You can’t wear that.”

Astrid froze. “Why not? I have to. All the ladies will be wearing one.”

“The dress,” he explained, gesturing to where it lay stretched out on top of a wide trunk. “I used  _your_ measurements. I made it to fit  _you_ , not you in a corset.”

She glanced down at the garment in her grasp, running her thumb over a piece of boning. Then, letting it fall to the side, she pressed her face into her hands. “This isn’t going to work,” she breathed, feeling her voice hitch with panic. “The twins destroyed my slippers. Snot locked me in my room. Now this. I’m late, I’m out of fashion, I’m wearing servant’s shoes. They’re never going to believe I’m a lady. The prince is never going to pick me.”

“He is.” Within a heartbeat, Hiccup was there, holding her by the shoulders and radiating delicious warmth. “You have to trust me, Astrid. You’re going to  _go_ to this ball, formally present Stormfly, and you’re going to take your uncle’s place as one of the kingdom’s dragon riders.” His breath was hot and insistent on the back of her palms. “Do you trust me?”

For a moment, she could only take deep breaths and try to collect herself. They’d worked too hard. He and Gobber had already done so much for her. She couldn’t let herself come this far just to turn around now. Allowing her hands fall back to her sides, she exhaled smoothly and nodded. “I trust you.”

“Good. Let’s get you dressed.”

As if just realizing that he was standing so close, Astrid felt herself flush. He stepped around her, lifting the gown from the trunk’s lid and holding it out to her. His gaze didn’t wander from her face, didn’t drop to see the way the neckline of her chemise was slipping low and revealing the swell of her breasts. She knew the candle cast light behind her, outlining her silhouette beneath the filmy fabric. He could probably even see the tightening points of her nipples or the shadows at the apex of her thighs if he just glanced down. But he didn’t.

“Thank you,” she murmured, for several reasons, and then taking the neckline in her hands, she stepped inside her dress. It felt as amazing as it looked, the white silk fluttering coolly over her skin. Off-the-shoulder chains tickled the tops of her arms, and the skirt tinkled like tiny bells when the fine chainmail rippled around her legs. After adjusting her chemise beneath the bodice, she twisted and pulled her hair aside. “Fix me?”

Hiccup didn’t answer out loud, simply moving closer until she could feel him just inches from her nearly bare back. Her heart gave a new kind of twist in excitement, and electricity sizzled all the way to her fingertips. When he began working at the tiny buttons just above her tailbone, she started trembling. She’d seen his hands pound molten steel into swords, seen them sharpen an axe-head to an impossible edge. He took metal and gave it life. Maybe that talent wasn’t just limited to an anvil.

“Astrid, I…” His voice was low, and she could feel his sharp exhale against her spine. The rest of the tiny storage room was so cold compared to his body heat— she wanted to step back and soak up more of it. “Will you promise me you won’t hate me after tonight?”

She rested her chin against her shoulder, looking behind her curiously. He kept his eyes on his task, focused as he tucked each button in place.

“Why would I hate you?” she asked, perplexed. “You’ve helped me so much. You’ve always had my back. You’re—” Surprised at the depth of her emotions, she suddenly cut off. “I couldn’t hate you.”

Again, he didn’t reply. His hand slid around her hip, tugging her a few inches closer. Her pulse raced, and she blinked ahead. Hiccup’s fingers reached the middle of her back, where her chemise ended, and she inhaled sharply when he brushed against the bare skin of her spine. Sparks of sensation bit where he touched her. His exhales rustled the hair at the nape of her neck. She could hear every breath he took, every hard swallow.

The final button sat just between her shoulderblades. Astrid considered moving, letting her hair fall back, but he didn’t move away immediately. His hands hung at his sides, and for a moment they stood there, just a gasp of space between them. Hiccup ducked his head to her neck, and she inhaled sharply when warm lips pressed ever-so-lightly into the slope of her shoulder.

Then he was gone again, stepping away to reach for the second piece of her gown. The cape he’d made for her was made of links so fine that the chainmail was practically transparent. It wrapped around her like spiderweb silk as he attached it to the skull studs at her chain sleeves. She hardly felt it— all she could feel was the burn of his kiss beneath the garment. Blinking furiously, she stared into the flicker of the candle.

If she left with the prince to protect the kingdom’s borders with the other dragon riders, how long would it be before she saw Hiccup again? This was what she wanted— the entire reason she’d come to work in the palace. But what was this nervousness suddenly weighing down her chest? Could that be apprehension? Doubt?

That was ridiculous. This was her destiny, to restore the Hofferson honor and become part of the dragon riders. She felt it as surely as she felt her pulse in her throat and in her ribcage. She’d only known the palace’s blacksmith for a little while, only spent a few months laughing and talking in his workshop. So what if her head spun when he was near? So what if her body ached when she watched him work with rolled up sleeves and sweat dripping from his brow? What was a fancy— a crush— when her whole future would begin at midnight?

“One more present,” he announced, a light note to his voice. As if he hadn’t just asked her not to hate him. As if he hadn’t just kissed her bare skin. He ducked around her, reaching once more for his satchel. “I made these before I knew about what Ruff and Tuff did to your shoes.”

Then he pulled a pair of slippers from his bag, black as night and scalloped around the edges. She gasped, pressing her fingers to her mouth.

“Are those Night Fury scales?” she blurted, forgetting that somebody passing by might hear. “Are those  _Toothless’_  scales?”

Hiccup’s lopsided grin was heart-stopping. “So they’ll do?” He knelt and lifted the hem of her skirt, untying her ugly brown boots and slipping them off her feet.

“Hiccup, how does a blacksmith get scales from the  _prince’s_  dragon?” The slippers gleamed, looking like polished volcanic rock as he eased her into them. He’d lined them with soft leather so that they didn’t cut into her feet. If he ever lost his job at the smithy, she was sure he had a future in designing clothing.

“Ask me tomorrow,” he answered cryptically. Then he pushed himself up and slung his satchel over his shoulder again. He gave her a long once over and then settled on her face, looking at her warmly. “You look beautiful.”

“Because of you,” she whispered self-consciously, reaching up to brush her fingertips over the place he’d kissed before thinking better of it and grabbing her other arm instead.

Shaking his head, Hiccup smiled down at the floor. “Nah. Because you’re beautiful.” He turned to leave. “I’ve gotta go. Things to do, people to see. And you don’t have a lot of time until midnight.”

“Can I see you?” she dared to ask, shifting nervously. “After?”

He nodded, reaching for the door. “I’ll find you.” With one last glance— was that longing?— he pulled the latch and started to slip outside. “Oh— Astrid?”

Her brows shot up. Her heart pounded. Would he ask her to stay? Would he tell her not to go with the riders if they chose her? Didn’t he know there was no way she could?

But he only gave her a weak wave and said, “Tell the prince I said hi.”


End file.
